DigiFabCon Explores How the Innovation Economy's Digital Fabrication Tools like 3D Printing, Robotics and Digital Design are Changing the World

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Visionaries from humanitarian aid, social entrepreneurship, next generation manufacturing, K - 12 STEM education, workforce development and community building prove that the future is happening now.

Learning about 3D Printing Prosthetic Hands at DigiFabCon

Working in this field for many years I was surprised how much I learned from the engaging speakers who are doing amazing work! - Jan M. at 2014 DigiFabCon

Cambridge, MA (PRWEB)March 11, 2017

DigiFabCon is an interactive event exploring how the innovation economy's digital fabrication tools like 3D Printing, laser cutting, robotics, and digital design are changing the world. In its 5th year, DigiFabCon is held March 30 - 31 at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, MA, with separate workshops on April 1. From a Humanitarian Lab in areas of conflict to educational programs integrated into K-12 curriculum, new tools have emerged that are accessible to anyone, kids to seniors, of any level of experience, in order to bring ideas to life. At DigiFabCon, Dale Dougherty, founder of Maker Media, Neil Gershenfeld, Director MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, and Sherry Lassiter, President of the Fab Foundation will discuss what is happening today, explain what it all means to the world and provide a glimpse of the future. The program includes group design sessions, panels on STEM education, workforce training and distributed manufacturing, as well as a Fab Festival. Registration for the 2-days is just $49 thanks to generous sponsorship from Chevron, Microsoft, ShopBot Tools and Autodesk.

April 1, DigiFabCon is bringing Design Swarms to Boston for the first time! Attendees can learn about design thinking in a day, and compete as part of a team to win the DigiFabCon design challenge. The challenge will involve using digital fabrication to solve an urgent social challenge. No prior knowledge of design or fabrication is required. This workshop is sponsored by Autodesk, Fab Lab Hub, and the Roxbury Innovation Center. Seats are strictly limited and full price is $99 per person, but we are offering early bird pricing of $49 until March 15. Don’t delay, this will sell out quickly.

Saturday April 1 is also a day of fun workshops. From making a mini-quadcopter with ShopBot Tools and the Carnegie Science Center's Fab Lab to effective kids programming from Fab Lab El Paso, it's sure to be an educational - and fun! - day of making. Other workshops include Paper Prototyping: From Concept to Design with Fab@School Maker Studio presented by Fab Lab Tulsa & Fablevision Learning as well as Creating a Nature-Inspired Maker Community developed by the Biomimicry PhD Fellows from the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM. The Synthetic Biology Club Brazil (Synbio Brazil) of the University of Sao Paulo is traveling to Massachusetts to demonstrate how to make low cost lab equipment. Again, thanks to our sponsors, registration is just $29 per workshop and includes materials. A full list of workshops is on the website workshop page.

Lean 101 is a a special pre-conference course, a one-day hands-on workshop that will introduce startup founders and entrepreneurs, makers, and fab lab/makerspace managers to methods for improving time to market, production cost and product quality through a simulated, hands-on making exercise. Our instructors are LEAN gurus of the first rank. Joe Rizzo, CEO of Lean is Green, previously ran factories for GE when the legendary Jack Welsh was CEO and Scott Gauvin, CEO of Macresco, focuses on creating high performing, humanistic workplaces.

The complete conference program and details on the special events can be found on our website.